Dodge City in 1872 (An Eyewitness Account)

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In 1872, Dodge City, one of the most famous towns of the wild west, was born. But what was Dodge City like in 1872? Learn from an eyewitness account what it was like to visit this growing frontier community. Frank Hopper, who used the alias "Knarf", was a correspondent with the Leavenworth Daily Commercial newspaper and visited Dodge City in November of 1872.

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I'm a trucker by trade (Now retired due to health). A few years ago, I had occasion to live & work some months in the Dodge City area building roads for some new wind farms just south of town. I lived out of my truck. As a young boy growing up in Southern California, I always heard a story from my paternal grandma about how my great grandpa had decked Wyatt Earp in Dodge City. A terrible ice storm blew through the area and shut down the whole wind farm project for almost a month. So one afternoon, I found where the historical society was and within 5 minutes, had quite a handful of articles from local papers of those days (1870's and '80's) talking about P.W. Beamer. Peter Walter was a black smith. He was been born in 1842 in Ohio and served in the civil war under Gen. Sherman as a First Sargent. Not sure of his training and how he came to come to Kansas. but in around this same time period of the video, he began to ply his trade. At some point, he partnered up with a man named White. We found an old photo of Front Street looking east and in about the middle of the block is the name White clearly visible. Some point along the way, the mayor asked P.W. to be sheriff. I don't know why, but he only did it for about a month. May have had something to do with the city council outlawing having a city job at the same time having another line of work. I'm pretty sure swinging a hammer paid better! One day, Wyatt Earp came in to a saloon, but refused to hang up his guns with the bartender. The bars north of the railroad required this, whereas those south of it, did not. So off they went to fetch the sheriff, Peter Walter. When Wyatt refused P.W.'s request, the black smith knocked him to the ground. And then, helped him back to his feet. At this point, they became friends, I was always told. Not a word of it in any of those papers. Just a family story passed down through the years. His son, my grandfather, died in '61 when I was 2. After my time in Dodge City, I actually know more about my great grandpa and his wife Julia than I ever did about grandpa. Julia had a boarding his which is still there. Across the street from Applebee's. The block where the forge was was torn down in the '70's to widen the state highway, I was told. Peter Walter Beamer took his family by way of northern Arizona to San Diego eventually. My great aunt told me how frightened she was by the Indians as a young girl in Arizona. I was 10 in '69 when she shared that with me. I wish I could have known her later to ask more questions. Anyway, I loved hearing this tale of that era and area. We'll never see another time like it.

allanbeamer

This is the way I love to learn about history. Wow I hope you do more of these kind of shorts thank you Steven.

stevenkramer

History has always been one of my top three subjects when I was in school. It is always interesting to know who was first to plant a stake in open land. I enjoy trivia questions so I will take away at least three from this video and ask them at work. I hope that you never tire of recapturing the old Wild Wild West for your Legacy of the West family 🥰!

reneethornton

Hello from Kansas 🇺🇸 Happy 150th Dodge City

LearnwithJanice

I forgot to add this-Frank Hopper, alias "Knarf" (Frank spelled backwards) enjoyed play on words-when he described H.P. Neiss being a boot and shoe seller he really used as many shoe puns as possible. When he was talking about Fringer and Peacock playing "freeze out", it was in November-so it would have been cold in Dodge City-so "freeze out" was another play on words, referring to the weather and them playing cards at the same time. Hope you liked the video!

legacyofthewest

Probably my favorite historical period of time. Thanks for real ❤️

AIRRAID

History is always interesting and should never be forgotten. Thanks for your videos and time, good luck, Mike

GoCorvette

I lived at Fort Dodge for a year in Y2k. I was amazed at the vibe of the locals. The vestiges of early Dodge still run through those folks as if it wasn't but a few decades ago. The looks in their eyes, their mannerisms & ways are still of that era. It was very cool. The practically lost art of storytelling was still going strong then, & what a joy it was to attend those gatherings.

One was about a half-hour long & was about a guy who was mad as can be, accusing someone he finally caught up with of stealing his brand new long johns about a year prior. As it turned out, they were never stolen. He had them on all this time but couldn't tell because they were under a thick layer of dirt...

SmokeyTreats

Great video! One thing I think most don't realize is that poker was not the big game in western towns. Faro was.

bobwallace

This is amazing information. Thank you sir for your efforts ! I wish I could have lived back then as to keep the peace ! 💪👍

thesquirrelchroniclesakare

I look forward to your videos, they are always informative and interesting. Keep up the great work.

meltz

Very nice content! One note: Frank Hopper would have pronounced "Arkansas River" as "Ar-Kansas in 1872.

thecw

I love these old newspaper accounts of the old west. Thank you for bringing them to life. Thanks, by the way, for the links to the maps. It may be a few months before I can get started on that project, I'm busy rebuilding my pontoon boat's helm and control box.

baldeagle